Apple Drops Android Support From Chomp App Discovery Tool

After buying the mobile application discovery engine Chomp earlier this year, Apple has dropped its support for Google's Android mobile operating system.

After buying the mobile application discovery engine Chomp earlier this year, Apple has dropped its support for Google's Android mobile operating system.

Until now, Chomp offered app suggestions for Apple's iOS and Google's Android. AppleInsider is reporting, however, that its readers discovered that Chomp no longer works on Android phones. They can no longer search on Chomp.com for Android apps, and the Chomp for Android app has been pulled from Google Play.

Apple picked up San Francisco-based startup Chomp back in February for about $50 million. With the acquisition, Apple is reportedly planning to revamp its App Atore, making it more user-friendly and easier to discover hidden gems. With somewhere around half a million apps in the App Store, trying to find the one you want has become increasingly difficult.

Chomp, which bills itself as "the search engine that finds the apps you want," uses a proprietary algorithm that learns apps' functions, allowing users to search based on what an app does, rather than just what it is called. For example, users can search for apps using terms such as "puzzle games," "expense trackers," or "tip calculators."

The Chomp for iPhone app, which is free to download, launched in the App Store in 2010. Chomp for Android, meanwhile, launched in Google Play, then the Android Market, in February 2011.

The company was founded by Australian Ben Keighran, who serves as its chief executive, and Cathy Edwards, who is the chief technical officer, according to the Chomp website, which makes no mention of the Apple acquisition. Actor Ashton Kutcher serves as Chomp's marketing advisor.

Angela has been a PCMag reporter since January 2012. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a reporter for SC Magazine, covering everything related to hackers and computer security. Angela has also written for The Northern Valley Suburbanite in New Jersey, The Dominion Post in West Virginia, and the Uniontown-Herald Standard in Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of West Virginia University's Perely Isaac Reed School of Journalism.
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